


a soft and unexpected thing

by ceraunos



Series: black sails prompt fills [3]
Category: Black Sails
Genre: (or at least as much as silverflint can be), Canon Compliant, First Kiss, M/M, silverflint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 00:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16439732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceraunos/pseuds/ceraunos
Summary: For the blacksailskinkmeme ask 'a very sweet silverflint first kiss'.Set after they take the fucking warship, Flint wonders if Silver was being entirely honest.





	a soft and unexpected thing

**Author's Note:**

> v speedy prompt fill at the request of paleanddepressed1 on tumblr

Flint knows the instant Silver realises he isn’t alone by the tightening of his shoulders, the way one hand hovers around his belt. He would swear he can see the hairs rise on the back of his neck if it weren’t impossible at this distance. It takes Silver a second to actually spot him though, his figure a black shadow leaning against the mast. Flint steps forward out of the dark and their eyes lock until Silver looks away again, back to watching the inky sea.

Wind catches in the sails, pulling them taught with a fluttering noise, and the ship slants slightly in response. Flint stumbles, anticipating a larger list than the warship gives; he’s still adjusting to not being on the smaller, lighter, tippier Walrus. Silver just sways with the ship’s movement, already in tune with new motions. Flint marvels at how malleable the man is, the way he moulds himself to fit whatever is required; it’s a survival technique, one that always leaves Flint on the back foot, guessing at what’s been calculated underneath Silver’s facade. The small part of Flint he rarely listens to anymore, the bit that’s a ghost of who he used to be, knows he doesn’t want to understand who Silver really is for purely tactical reasons. He’s _interested_ and it’s a threatening state to be in, like a spark too close to kindling.

“Problem?” Silver says, still not looking at Flint. There’s less of a hardness to his tone than usual though, less implication of a hidden meaning. If Flint didn’t know better he’d say there was a hint of genuine concern in Silver’s question. This newfound friendship of sorts, a tenuous tightrope of a truce, has left Flint reeling, uncertain of how to proceed.

He doesn’t answer Silver, only walks up next to him and leans over the side, mirroring Silvers faux-casual posture. Their sleeves brush and Flint ridiculously feels himself want to flinch away from what he’s sure is an imaginary warmth of Silver’s body. Then Silver shifts and knocks their shoulders together and the contact sends such a shock of heat spreading outwards through him that he nearly chokes on it.

They’re not the only ones on deck, although the somewhat skeletal night crew aren’t paying them any attention – not that anyone’s given either of them more than a cursory hate-filled glance these last few days anyway. Flint watches the way the water curves, rippling around the bow and takes a few shallow, steadying breaths.

He feels as if he’s floating a little, untethered and drifting in the murky black. Tomorrow he’ll take back his captaincy, bending the situation to his will as he always does and it’ll work because it always does. Tonight, though, he’s lost in an empty space of waiting and the fury that normally fuels him feels hard to reach, threatening to give way to insurmountable sorrow, to the shame and horror that comes in familiar floods instead.

When Silver coughs slightly and his body shifts next to Flint’s, though, he’s reminded of the something else that’s appeared tonight, the tiny trickle of longing he had thought impossible to feel again; the pulsing desire so very long dormant he’d assumed it was dead. It had brought his feet to the deck before he even realised what, or who, he was looking for and now it stretches Flint’s itching fingers out to take the cuff of Silvers shirt between forefinger and thumb.

“Were you being honest?” Flint swallows, wants to stop, _needs_ to stop, but he’s already said more than he can backtrack on. “Were you being honest when you said you’re the only person who doesn’t want me dead?”

Silver shrugs with a casualness Flint wishes he could adopt. “There might be one or two men who don’t want to see you on the seabed just yet I suppose. You won’t be able to count on any old loyalty for a vote, though.”

“That’s not -” Flint shakes his head. “I meant, were you being honest when you said you don’t want me dead.”

“I told you. We have a common interest.” Silver says with his wide smile and eyes that Flint knows would be unreadable, even if it weren’t so dark. Flint sighs. He isn’t sure why he thought he might get a different answer. Concern and a distant embarrassment at letting his guard down so thoroughly is rapidly settling over him and he’s about to walk away when Silver finally acknowledges Flint’s fingers gripping the fabric of his sleeve. He lifts them delicately between his own, tracing the dirt around Flint’s nails. Flint stops. A sudden stillness washing over him; Silver’s action is so gentle, so unexpected, that he can’t breathe for fear of breaking it.

Silver’s other hand comes up to cradle Flint’s jaw and when Silver kisses him, lips light and fleeting, Flint forgets to close his eyes.

“Does that answer your question?” Silver says, softly. Flint wants to say no, wants to say that it could mean anything, it could mean nothing. There’s something in the way Silver is still holding him though, the way he’s worrying the inside of his lip ever so slightly, that suggests this might, for once, actually be something true. Beneath them waves slosh against the hull arrythmically and there’s a faint rushing in Flint’s ears as he tips his head toward Silver’s.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written entirely while sitting in a traffic jam on the M25 and it is my first attempt at writing Silver and at Silverflint, so please be gentle x Also available on [ tumblr](http://ceraunos.tumblr.com/post/179519589738/silverflint-for-paleanddepressed1-filling-the)
> 
> (this is unedited at the moment, please let me know if you find any mistakes lol)


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